Musical instrument carriers are often necessary or at least desirable to permit a musician to play his or her musical instrument while standing, walking, and/or marching. Musical instrument carriers are especially useful for percussion instruments, such as drums and the like. Functionally, musical instrument carriers are optimally designed to provide comfort and mobility to the user and stability to the musical instrument while retaining the musical instrument in a convenient playing position, typically with both of the user's hands free and unobstructed to play the musical instrument. While some musical instruments can be effectively carried using a neck strap or belt clip secured to the musician, such simplistic carriers are not well adapted for use with certain musical instruments, especially percussion instruments, which are relatively heavy and/or require hands-free stabilization.